Sergeant Danny Nightingale's family spoke of being overwhelmed yesterday as the Court of Appeal took the “unprecedented” step of announcing a review of his case before lawyers had even requested permission.

Just a day after Defence
Secretary Philip Hammond called for an urgent review into the case of the
jailed SAS soldier, his family arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice to lodge
the paperwork for an appeal only to be told that a hearing had already been
arranged in front of the Lord Chief Justice next week.

Shocked and tearful, Sgt
Nightingale's wife Sally said: “It is totally overwhelming, very emotional. Something
is actually going our way. It feels like all the way along we have had the
worst case scenario and today it is the best case scenario.”

The dramatic turn of events
comes after days of mounting furore and ministerial rows over the controversial
case of the exemplary soldier who was given an 18-month sentence after a
pistol, a gift from an Iraqi soldier he had trained that he insists he had
forgotten about, was found in his quarters.

His family insist that the
37-year-old was “bullied” into a guilty plea at the court martial after being
told that he could face a five year sentence if convicted but would be treated
leniently if he admitted the illegal possession of a firearm and training
ammunition.

Yesterday his father Humphrey
reacted to the news of the appeal date: “It is unprecedented. For the Lord
Chief Justice to preside over it himself and to have an appeal as quickly as
this - we couldn't have asked for more.”

Simon McKay, Sgt Nightingale's
solicitor, said the appeal against conviction would be made on the grounds that
his guilty plea was not a genuine reflection of criminal culpability.